Central Fire Station #1 | The Galveston Fire Department

Did you know that the Galveston Fire department was the first paid fire department in the state of Texas?

Galveston's first paid fire department began in 1885, but fire prevention on the island goes back to the city's founding in the late 1830s in early 1840s. In the early days, volunteer firefighters were the only thing that stood between a cooking fire gone awry or an out-of-control chimney fire. In some cases, early residents were required to keep buckets in every room of the house just in case they needed to put out a fire. Before 1885 volunteer firefighters of Galveston had a very difficult time doing that job. Response time was very slow as the roads were mostly sand which made responding with necessary equipment extremely difficult. As the city grew, firefighting evolved. In 1876, they moved from fire-watch towers to a telegraph system. The initial system utilized over 12 miles of wiring. One of Galveston's worst fires occurred in November 1885. A fire broke out at Vulcan ironworks at 16th and strand and destroyed over 40 city blocks as a north wind and dense wooden structures on the east end of Galveston fed the flames. Since the founding of the Galveston Fire Department, the training, equipment, and stations have become some of the most advanced in Texas. Central fire station #1 was built with the intention of matching the historical architecture of the downtown Galveston area and was built with hurricane preparedness and personnel comfort in mind. On the east side of central fire station #1, there is a memorial for firefighters who lost their lives protecting the city of Galveston. Be sure to take a moment and read the names.

Interested in information covered in this episode? Reference links below:
Central Fire Station #1
Galveston Burning | James Anderson
Drawing of 1885 fire destruction
Fire insurance maps showing fire limits of downtown Galveston

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